Woven texturized filament bed blanket

ABSTRACT

A bed blanket ( 10 ) is formed from yarns ( 22, 24 ) having filaments ( 26 ) comprised of a material having a specific gravity of not more than about 1, such as polypropylene. The yarns may be air textured, such as by core-and-effect or parallel methods. The woven blankets exhibit high heat retention and have a low density and an excellent hand. These blankets are suitable for hospital and hospitality industry use.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/162,208 filed Aug. 31, 2005.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed to bedding and, more particularly, toblankets, particularly for use in the hospital and hospitality industry.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

Historically, woven blankets used for comfort and/or warmth and/ordecorative purposes in bedding applications have been manufacturedutilizing spun yarns of natural, synthetic, and some combination ofnatural and synthetic yarns. Specifically, versions are known tocommonly exist that are made from cotton, wool, polyester and acrylicfiber yarns or combinations of these.

Blankets have also been manufactured by compressing cut fibers formingnon-wovens, or flocking of cut staple fibers to a base substrate.Blankets can also be formed from circular knitting, as well as warpknitting. Each of these constructions offers specific advantages anddisadvantages with respect to the use as a blanket or article ofbedding.

Blankets must retain heat. Unlike a bed sheet, they should be thick. Inthe hospitality industry, lighter blankets are preferred because theyare less expensive to launder. The selection of the appropriatematerial, i.e., the spun yarn or staple fibers, introduces limitationswith respect to the finished product. These limitations may relate toproduct strength, consistency of quality, dyeability or color retention,inherent cost of yarn spinning or staple fiber preparation, diminishingthermal retentive performance associated with weight loss, as well asexcessive weight associated with providing a blanket with acceptablethermal properties and market acceptable hand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is premised on the realization that a beddinglinen having excellent thermal retention with a low weight, and whichdries quickly and is stable with respect to chlorine bleach, can beformed from a yarn wherein the filaments of the yarn are formed from amaterial having a specific gravity less than about 1. The yarn isadvantageously air textured, such as by a core-and-effect method or aparallel method, and may be polypropylene having a specific gravity ofnot more than about 1, and advantageously less than about 1. The airtextured yarn may be used in the fill, the warp, or both.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate an embodiment of the inventionand, together with the general description of the invention given aboveand the detailed description of the embodiments given below, serve toexplain the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a blanket according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view of a portion of thebedding of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention is a blanket 10 having fourfinished edge surfaces 12,14,16,18 and a field 20. The field 20 is awoven material formed from interwoven warp yarns 22 or ends extendingbetween top and bottom edges 12 and 16, and filling yarns 24 or picksextending between left and right edges 14 and 18, for example. The warpand filling yarns can be different or the same material and, preferably,are formed from the same type of yarn.

The yarn 22 or 24 for use in the present invention includes one or moresynthetic continuous filaments 26, and is advantageously comprising of aplurality thereof so as to be a synthetic multi-filament yarn. Thefilaments 26 are formed from a material having a specific gravity of notmore than about 1, and advantageously less than about 1. Polypropylenewhich has a specific gravity of 0.91 may be use to form the filaments26, although other polymeric materials can be utilized.

The yarn 22 or 24 is formed and air textured. The air texturing may beaccomplished using, for example, the Taslan® method. The term “Taslantexturing” as used herein is meant to refer to a process in which a jetor jets of compressed air are directed against the yarn such as in atexturing chamber (not shown), usually in the direction of travel of theyarn, forming a turbulent region, the speed or the tension of the yarnis greater at the entrance of the texturing chamber jet than at the exit(net overfeed) and the filaments of the resultant product have amultitude of ring-like portions 30 at random intervals along theirlengths and possibly combined with smaller random protrusions (notshown) on the yarn surface. One air texturing method may becore-and-effect in which a pair of yarns or a pair of sets of yarns arefed at different rates into the texturing chamber (not shown) to be hitwith the jet(s) of air. Alternatively, the air texturing may be parallelmethod in which a single yarn or a single set of yarns is fed into thetexturing chamber (not shown) at one speed. In either case, the inputspeed(s) are different (usually higher) than the output speed, with thenet overfeed and compressed air producing random filament protrusionsthat add texture to the resultant yarn. The textured yarn will have adenier of 120 to 5300 and, preferably, 300 to 1800.

One advantageous yarn can be purchased from American Fibers and YarnsCompany. One such yarn is a bulked, core-and-effect air textured producttreated using the Taslan method. Another is a bulked, parallel airtextured product treated using the Taslan method. In both cases, theyarn is formed from polypropylene material having a specific gravity of0.91. Each yarn includes about 576 filaments and has an overall bulkeddenier of about 1440.

If the warp yarns or filling yarns are different, the second yarn can beany yarn typically used for blanket applications. These can be wool,cotton, rayon, acrylic, and other such materials. Polyester could alsobe used. Advantageously the warp and filling yarns 22 and 24 will bothbe formed from the air textured polypropylene yarn. Preferably, the yarnis a non-plied yarn, although plied yarns are suitable for use.

The blanket 10 can be woven in any typical manner such as a standardweave, a twill weave or a satin weave, by way of example. As shown inthe FIG. 2, a 2/2 twill weave is employed. This provides an estheticallypleasing appearance. But, satin or plain weaves can also be employed.The edges 12,14,16,18 of the blanket 10 are finished as desired toprevent fraying or unraveling. The field 20 advantageously has a threadcount of about 30 to about 40 threads per inch with a density of about200 to about 350 grams/square meter.

Using air textured, advantageously bulked, continuous filament yarnformed from a material that has a low specific gravity provides ablanket that is very lightweight, thereby reducing laundering costswhile at the same time providing excellent heat retention and excellenthand. This combination is extremely desirable for blankets. Further ithas the strength to withstand repeated industrial launderings, and driesquickly. When formed from a polypropylene material the blanket exhibitschlorine tolerance as well as excellent color retention.

While the present invention has been illustrated by the description ofembodiments thereof, and while the embodiments have been described inconsiderable detail, it is not intended to restrict or in any way limitthe scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantagesand modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. Theinvention in its broader aspects is, therefore, not limited to thespecific details, representative apparatus and method, and illustrativeexamples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made fromsuch details without departing from the spirit or scope of the generalinventive concept.

1. A woven bedding product comprising: a bed blanket including a plurality of warp yarns and a plurality of filling yarns woven together, at least one of the yarns including a textured synthetic continuous filament comprising material having a specific gravity of not more than about 1.0.
 2. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 1 wherein said at least one yarn being one of the warp yarns.
 3. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 1 wherein said at least one yarn being one of the filling yarns.
 4. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 1 wherein the warp and filling yarns are both formed from said at least one yarn.
 5. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 1 wherein said at least one yarn is a plied yarn.
 6. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 1 wherein said at least one yarn is an air textured yarn.
 7. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 6 wherein the at least one yarn is a core-and-effect air textured yarn.
 8. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 6 wherein the at least one yarn is parallel air textured yarn.
 9. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 6 wherein said yarn is formed from polypropylene filaments.
 10. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 1 further comprising a second yarn, said second yarn selected from the group consisting essentially of wool, cotton, rayon, polyester, and acrylic.
 11. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 1 wherein said bed product has a 2/2 twill pattern.
 12. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 1 wherein said warp yarns and said filling yarns are air textured yarns.
 13. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 12 wherein said air textured yarns are core-and-effect air textured yarns.
 14. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 12 wherein said air textured yarns are parallel air textured yarns.
 15. A woven bedding product comprising a bed blanket including a plurality of continuous filament yarns wherein said yarns are air textured and wherein filaments of said yarns are polypropylene.
 16. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 15 wherein said yarns are core-and-effect air textured.
 17. The woven bedding product claimed in claim 15 wherein said yarns are parallel air textured.
 18. A woven bedding product, comprising: a bed blanket including a plurality of warp yarns each including textured synthetic continuous filament yarns and a plurality of filling yarns each including textured synthetic continuous filament yarns, the warp and filling yarns being woven together, the textured synthetic continuous filaments each comprising material having a specific gravity of not more than about 1.0.
 19. The woven bedding product of claim 18, each of the textured synthetic continuous filament yarns being air textured filament yarns.
 20. The woven bedding product of claim 18, each of the textured synthetic continuous filament yarns being core-and-effect air textured filament yarns.
 21. The woven bedding product of claim 18, each of the textured synthetic continuous filament yarns being parallel air textured filament yarns.
 22. The woven bedding product of claim 18 wherein the material is polypropylene.
 23. The woven bedding product of claim 18, the plurality of warp yarns and the plurality of filling yarns being woven together to define a 2/2 twill pattern of the bed blanket.
 24. A woven bedding product, comprising: a bed blanket including a plurality of warp yarns and a plurality of filling yarns woven together, at least one of the yarns being an air textured synthetic continuous multifilament, at least one filament of the air textured synthetic continuous multifilament comprising material having a specific gravity of not more than about 1.0.
 25. The woven bedding product of claim 24 wherein the material includes polypropylene.
 26. The woven bedding product of claim 24, the plurality of warp yarns and the plurality of filling yarns being woven together to define a 2/2 twill pattern of the bed blanket. 